GOVERNOR 



■JOSEPH Johnson. 



-OF VIRGINIA. 



A BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS LIFE and CHARACTER 



Bjj an Litinirdr- Friend. 



1SS3 



HALTIMOllE: 

JOHN H. FOSTEU'S STEAM PRINTING AND PITBIJSHINn HOUSE, 

Ni). « South Charles Stret^t. 

-1877- 



'Z3o 



INTRODUCTION. 

By one who knew him long, and as inthiiately as he was known by 
any one outside of his own immediate household, tl^s small tribute is 
offered as a memento to his u.'eful life, his talents and his virtues. 

If this brief record shall serve in any degree to perpetuate the re- 
membrance of his character, to cultivate a love for the higher and 
nobler qualities of our nature, and act as an incentive to the young 
to imitate the great and the good, it will have accomplished the wishes 

of its 

Author. 



GOVERNOR 

JOSEPH JOHNSON, 

OF VIRGINIA. 



A man who is "self-made" often excels the mere college student 
— the man of letters, in mental vigor and the other qualities 
requisite to make the man, as much as the hard fisted mechanic 
excels him physically. The former, often without pecuniary 
means and that paternal or maternal care to giju^irection to his 
youthful yearnings or point him to the templ(^m science, learns 
of necessity, at an early age, to rely upon himself and is forced to 
become familiar with men and things, without a knowledge of 
which literary acquirements are mere ornaments. 

A liberal education in early life is beyond price. It has ena- 
bled men to become an ornament to society and useful to their 
country, who, without it, would never have attracted attention. 
It is as true as old — "the mind makes the man ;" for unless the 
Creator of all things has stamped upon him that which makes the 
Diau, learning will never do it. The mental powers of men are 
as diversified as the soils of the earth. Upon some you may pour 
a continual stream from the fountain of knowledge, but it will be 
as barren of fruit as the desert. Others will be improved and 
bring some fruit, whilst another class will yield a rich harvest in 
return for any seed that may fall in their way. Only bring them 
under the rays of science, and the germs of genius will spring 
and blossom like the rose. Such was the order of mind posses- 
sed by the subject of this sketch. 0^ 

A large proportion of those useful men who enrolled their 
names on the scroll of fame and enshrined their memories in the 
hearts of their countrymen in the early days of our republic, did 



not come from college to enter the public service, nor gain the 
esteem of the people by the means of a diploma. A clear head, 
strong common sense, an investigating and discriminating mind, 
coupled with energy, perseverance and an incorruptable honest)-, 
are the requisites to qualify a man for great usefulness and to 
secure for him the love and confidence of his fellow men. Such 
a character was Joseph Johnson. 

Joseph Johnson was born December 19, 1785, in Orange 
county, in the state of New York. He was the second son of 
Joseph Johnson and Abagail Wright. His father had been a 
soldier in the war for independence, anJ like most of the others, 
was poor, but respectable, however paradoxical this may seem to 
the moneyed aristrocracy and bribe takers of recent date. 
The time zcas when poverty was not a crime, nor regarded a 
disqualification for the highest office, nor was wealth then a mask 
to corruption. ^I^ould that capacity and fidelity were the tests 
for office HOW, 2^hcn ! 

Joseph was but five years of age when his father died, leaving 
a widow with five children. The mother moved with her children to 
Sussex county, in the state of New Jersey, in 1791, Joseph then 
being six years old. They resided there until 1801, when the 
mother with a married daughter and son-in-law, and her two 
little boys moved to Harrison county, in the state of Virginia. 
Joseph was then 15 years of age and the chief stay and protec- 
tor of his mother and younger brother. 

In illustration of his character, just then begining to bud, it 
may be mentioned that, within a month after their arrival in Vir- 
ginia, this boy had of his own volition engaged to live with a 
highly respectable old gentleman farmer of the neighborhood by 
the name of Smith, whose health was delicate. This proved to 
be an eventful and auspicious business contract. Joseph soon 
won the old gentleman's regard, became his chief manager and 
lived with him until Mr. Smith's death. Soon after this event and 
before the subject of oiu- sketch had arrived at the age of twentx'- 
one, he married Mis.s^mith^ one of the daughters of his uUl 
friend and employer. This prov^ed a most fortunate marriage to 
each. In many respects their characters were so nearly the 



counterpart of each other, it would be dificult to say which gain- 
ed most by the union. She was noted for her gentleness and 
amiability of character. .She lived and died a ripe Christian, 
without an enemy, and beloved by all who knew her. 

Four years after his marriage, Joseph Johnson purchased the 
interests of the other heirs in the farm of his late father-in-law, 
moved upon it and made it his home as long as he lived. The 
firm adjoins the village of Bridgeport, a depot on the Parkersburg 
branch of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and here he raised 
his family and lived nearly continuously for more than 70 years. 

Harrison county is in what is now called West Virginia. When 
Mr. Johnson was married, that part of the state was almost cov- 
ered with its primitive forest. Facilities for acquiring an educa- 
tion were very limited at best, and as every hour of his time during 
the day belonged to another, Joseph had acquired only such simple 
rudiments of an English education, as a boy who was determin- 
ed to learn, could pick up by studying at night ^Jlfl odd moments. 
This continued for years, extending into his manhood, so that he 
w>t truly a self-educated man as far as it went. 

He was now a farmer, and having to rely chiefly upon himself, 
he had but little time for anything else during the day. As an 
additional means of improvement, he got up a debating society 
in the village near him, which afterwards became famous for the 
ability of its members and the number thereof, who, in after 
years^ filled political and other public stations. Here young 
Johnson found a place and opportunity for the gratification and 
cultivation of his tastes and talents, while putting to practical use 
the information he was culling from books. Here his talents soon 
attracted attention. His keen dissecting powers, his logic and 
his eloquence were rapidly developed and acknowledged by all 
who heard him. It was during this training, which was fitting him 
for the public positions he afterwards filled so well, that the dif- 
erences and discussions in regard to the pending war with Eng- 
land, was forced upon the public mind^. Johnson at once took 
position with the Republican party, as the advocates of the war 
were then called. It was now that young Johnson was first 
brought into public view. He was Captain of a rifle company 



of militia, and when the Atlantic sea-board was threatened in 
1814, he called his company together, addressed them in a public 
speech, and induced them to consent unanimously that he might 
tender the services of the company en masse to the general gov- 
ernment. Fie did so. They were promptly accepted, and the 
company marched to Norfolk. There at the front, they continued 
in the service till peace was secured in 181 5, when, with a small 
remnant of his company he returned to their native hills. 

Now commenced that long and useful political career for which 
his talents, his decision of character and unsullied integrity so 
eminently fitted him. In 181 5 he was elected to the state Legis- 
lature, defeating the then famous Mr. Prunty, who had been in 
the legislature for twenty-two consecutive years. He continued 
in the legislature four years, when he declined another election, 
and returned to private life to look after his farm. 

The writer has heard him say that he owed much of his early 
political life, to-^the persuasion and unqualified endorsement of 
himself by the then distinguished judge, John G. Jackson, of the 
same county. Jackson having been made United States judge 
declined a reelection to Congress, and in 1823 persuaded Johnson 
to announce himself a candidate for Congress. He did so — 
advocating the principles of the Republican party of that day. 
He was opposed by Mr. (afterwards Judge,) Duncan of his own 
county, Col. T. S. Haymond, a Mr. Bro-wning and the justly cel- 
ebrated Phill. Doddridge. After one meeting of the candidates 
in the city of Wheeling, all withdrew from the canvass except 
Johnson and Doddridge. Doddridge was the senior of Johnson, 
an eminent lawyer, a fine and forcible speaker and possessed a 
mind that would have compared favorably with any other of his 
day. When he and Col. Johnson met on the stump, it was Greek 
meeting Greek. I have heard their rencounters related by 
those who witnessed them. To oppose Doddridge's experience 
and wonderful powers, both as an orator and a debater, Johnson was 
possessed of a spirit that q-uailed at nothing, an energy and an 
endurance that neverWailed, an intimate and sort of intuitive 
knowledge of human nature, a quick, keen, discriminating mind, 
capable of close logical reasoning, and an eloquence, not to be 



acquired from the classics, the <^ift only of a creative power — 
maf^netic in its inlluence and always equal to the cnergency. 

Many years ago, I heard the Hon. Wm. S. Morgan describe 
the meeting between these men at Morgantown, Va., in this can- 
vass of 1823; and lie related an incident and parts of the dis- 
cussion illustrative of the wonderful powers of recuperation and 
repartee :psss«d^ by each . jl a-L^'^a-^i-^-^^ 

This heated and exciting canvass ended in a victory for Johnson. 
He took his seat in the eighteenth Congress, in December 1823. 
Henry Clay was made speaker of the House, and there was then 
assembled in the two houses of Congress the greatest array of 
distinguished talent that e\'er graced those iialls. It was during 
this Congress the election of a president devolved on the House 
of Representative?. In this memorable contest. Col. Johnson, 
in the V^irginia delegation, voted solitary and alone for Andrew 
Jackson from first to last. With this act of his, he was always 
entirely satisfied, and in thj light of subsequentwents, it was a 
source of great gratification. He was always an ardent admirer 
of that great man.^ When the old Republican party changed its 
name to that of Democratic, he went with it, and never after 
changed his party relations. He emphatically belonged 
to that school of politicians known as the "Jacksonian Dem- 
ocracy." 

In 1S25 he was again elected to Congress, beating Mr. Dod- 
dridge the second time in a spirited contest. In thesu cavasses 
they discussed the political issues of the day, never descending to 
gross personalities, hence, each retained the confidence and friend- 
ship of the other while they lived. 

In the spring of 1827, Col. Johnson returned to his home and 
family, and was succeeded in Congress by a Mr. Lefler for two 
years, and then by Mr. Doddridge till his death in 1832. Col. 
Johnson was elected to the vacancy and served during the last 
session of the twenty-second Congress. 

In the spring of 1833. he declined being a candidate for reelec- 
tion, and recommended and supported Jdfin J Allen for the place. 
Mr. Allen was an able lawyer and pos.sessed very superior abilities. 
He was elected as a Republican, but during the twenty-third 



10 

Congress Mr. Allen separated himself from his party upon the 
United States Bank question, and in the spring 1835 Col. Johnson 
was called upon by his old political friends to again become a 
candidate and redeem the district, by opposing Mr. Allen, whom 
he had supported but two years before. He obeyed the call, and 
now occurred a canvass in some respects, the most remarkable, of 
his long political life. He and Allen lived in the same county. 
Mr. Allen was a cultivated and able lawyer, a fluent speaker, 
possessing superior mental abilities, and a ch iracter, the purity 
of which was never sullied during a long public life — during many 
years of which he was a member of the Su^^rcmc Court of the 
state, and finally its- Chief Justice. 

They canvassed the district actively and together. At that day 
the voting in each county was done on the respective court- 
deiys, and at the Court Houses only. This enabled them to meet 
and address most of the people on their respective days for 
voting. The Action in their own county (Harrison) was held 
on the fourth Monday. The candidate^ were there. Each felt 
that the result depended upon the vote of ^hat day, and they 
stripped for the fray. Each, perhaps, made the greatest effort of 
his life. The excitement became intense, and in after years, the 
writer has heard from those who witnjssed it the legendary ac- 
counts of the discussion. When all the returns came in, the 
remarkable fact w^as discovered that, outside of their own 
county, the vote was a tie, and that in this, Johnson had a majori- 
ty of 85 votes. 

As in the case with Mr. Doddridge, these gentlemen retained 
through life the highest respect and cordial friendship for each 
other. 

Johnson then continued in Congress for si.x consecutive years. 
Ivvtr.icts fro'ii speeches, and reports from committees, made by 
him whilst in Congress might here be given, but they related 
chiefly to questions now obsolete, and have therefore lost their 
interest. Notwithstanding the gifts nature had bestowed upon 
hi'ii as a publx speaker, he rarely occrpied the time of the House, 
but w.is known as a 7i.<jrkiN>^ member, — always in his place, and 
giving prompt attention to his public duties and attending kindly 



11 

to any business of interest to his constituents. His modesty and 
unpretentious manners were as striking, as was his firnmess when 
he had reached a conclusion, or his inspiring eloquence, when 
occasion arose to call it forth.. 

In 1 841 he again retired to private life, to enjoy the sweets of 
a quiet home in the midst of a happy family, and supported Saml. 
L. Hays for Congress. Mr. Hays was elected ; but at the next 
election in 1843, Mr. Hays was beaten by G. W. Summers, a 
Whig. In 1845 the Democratic party held a nominating conven- 
tion, of which the writer was a member. This convention nomi- 
nated Col. Johnson and again called upon himtoj-edeem the district 
from the Whigs. He consented to try it, though he knew the parties 
were about equally divided^and Mr. Summers a competitor worthly 
of any man's steel. Mr. Sumniers who was fastidiously careful 
of his reputation, declined running for the position he then had, 
and Col. Camden with more courage, but less discretion, became 
the Whig candidate. Col. Camden was also a cilf5;en of Harrison 
County, a respectable lawyer and personally popular. Col. John- 
son was elected by. a good majority. 

This was the seventh time he had been elected to Congress. 
At the close of the twenty-ninth Congress, 1847, he issued an 
address to his constituents thanking them for past confidence, 
declining to be a candidate for reelection and expressing his wish 
and purpose to retire to the shades of his private home during 
the remainder of his life. During this long Congressional career, 
though he had not changed his residence, he had represented at 
different times three distinct and almost different districts. Thus, at 
one time or another, he has represented in Congress nearly all the 
teritory now embraced in the state of West Virginia, excepting that 
small part composing the Eastern Panhandle. 

During his absence, his county had been ca[)tured by the Whigs, 
and on his return honu in the spring of 1847 his old party friends 
applied to him to bjcomj a candidate for th^ state Legislature 
in opposition to John S. Duncan, a young man of fine talents, 
and who was then walking o\'er the course without a competitor. 
Johnson first refused, but when thc\' reminded him how the\- had 
.dways responded to his calls, and now t/uy were calling on Jiim 



VI 

to siT7'L' tlu'ui, he yielded to their appeals, and redeemed the county 
so effectually, that it proved the political death of Mr. Duncan. 

Returning from the Legislature to his home in 1848, he told 
the writer, he was done with public life forever ; but was again 
destined to disappointment. 

In 1850 an election was held for delegates to a state convention 
to remodal the constitutton, and he was elected a member of 
that body. He accepted the position, and on the assembling of 
the convention he was requested as the oldest man present, to 
call the body to order. 

In that convention he was chairman of the committee on 
suffrage. The question of suffrage had attracted a good deal of 
attention in the state for years. The qualifications that then ex- 
isted, to entitle a man to exercise the elective franchise in that 
state, had been thought by many good and wise men to be too 
stringent. This was especially so in the wcstirn part of Virginia, the 
section in whicft Col. Johnson lived. He sympathized with this, 
sentiment, and as chair.iiui of the committee, he reported and 
supported an article on this subject, which was very liberal in its 
provisions, and it was engrafted upon the new constitution. 
After it had been in operation a few years, and he had seen the 
effect of giving the right to every loafer and tramp who might 
stop six months in a county or ward of a city, and to those who 
would sell their votes for a drink of liquor, he changed his views 
somewhat, and said that something more than mere citizenship • 
should be required to entitle one to vote. That should be re- 
quired, which would make the voter feel sjihl interest at least, in 
the state and its laws. 

Whilst he was a member of the convention he was elected 
Governor of the state by the Legislature under the provisions of 
the then existing constitution. Under this election, he assumed 
the office and duties of Governor in December, 1851. 

In the fall of 1851, the new constitution which he had helped 
to frame was adopt d, and at the sam^ time Johnson, who had 
been no ninated by the De nocrats, was elected Governor by the 
popular vote of the people for the term of four years, beginning 
January ist 1 852. This was the first time in the history of the 



13 

state?, that its Governor had been elected b>' the votes of the 
people and he was the first and ivily man ever elected Governor 
of Virginia from that part of the state now comprised in West 
V^irginia. 

This being the first election of Governor by the people, and 
each party claiming that theirs would gain most by the extension 
of suffrage, they nominated those who were generally regarded 
the strongest men before the people. The Whigs nominated Geo. 
W. Summers of Kanawha County. Mr. Summers was an edu- 
cated and experienced lawyer, an able and popular man. After 
a warm and active canvass, Johnson was elected by about 9,000 
majority. 

In his first message to the Legislature, in 1851, he recommend- 
ed the completion of the James River and Kanawha canal to 
Clifton Forge, as its ivestern terminus for the time, and the exten- 
sion of the Central railroad, (now called C. & O.) from Staun- 
ton, by Clifton Forge, westward to the Ohio river, at or near 
Guyandotte ; together with a general system of rail roads for the 
residue of the state. His recommendations on this subject were 
literally adopted by the Legislature, — the work on the different 
lines begun and rapidly pushed forward, till the breaking out of 
the war in 1861. Though not yet quite completed, the state has 
begun to realize the benefits to result from the system. 

In the same message he called attention to the importance and 
delicacy of our Federal relations, foreshadowing in mild but clear 
language, what he then thought might occur between the sections; 
all of which has since been fully realized. 

In his last message to the legislature dated December 3rd, 1855, 
and which might (as its author intended it) be regarded as his 
farewell address and withdrawal from public life, he so vi\idl}-, 
pictured that which was likely to occur from violations of the 
national compact by northern individuals and state legislatures, 
that, with the . lights now before us, his warnings may well be 
regarded, as a .sort of prophetic vision. His views on this subject 
were generally concurred in by his people of both parties. After 
filling the Executive chair for four years with such .sagacity and 
fidelity as to give entire satisfaction to his political friends, and 



14 

to deprive his political opponents of every pretext for dissatisfac- 
tion or criticism, he again bade adieu to public life, and returned to 
the quiet shades of his own home amid the universal plaudits of 
his fellow citizens of "Well done, thou true and faithful servant." 

A few (but very few) "sore heads" there were. These were 
''old Jiunkcrs" — mostly Whigs who had wormed themselves into all 
the State boards — such as Bank Directors, Directors of the Institu- 
tions at Staunton &c., and had held them so long, "rings" had been 
formed. Gov. Johnson could not appreciate the divinity of the 
right by which they claimed to hold these positions, and instituted 
the practice of changing those boads. Some of these thus dis- 
placed (as A. H. H. S. for example) could never forgive him. 
This practice has been followed by his successors, and approved 
by the people ever since. 

He. had filled, the office of Presidential Elector several times, 
and now at the age of three score and ten years, nearly forty of 
the.se having been spent in the service of his country, with a 
private and public character that had never been stained by a sus- 
picion, ripe in experience and crowned with honors, with mental 
and physical powers little impaired, he prepared to spend the re-, 
mainder of his days at the home where he had married his wife 
(then deceased) and where he had lived for more than 50 )'ears, 
in the enjoyment of the association of long tried friends. 

Here, Gov. Johnson received and dispensed a hospitality that 
warms the heart, sweetens and refines society, and sheds a sweet 
fragrance on the amenities of life. In the private walks of life 
he was a model of human excellence. He was prov^erbally 
punctual in all things, and his morals pure and lofty. He was 
below the medium height, well formed for endurance, dark com- 
plexion, with a bright black eye, that flashed as if on fire when 
animated in debate. His countenance was attractive, inteligent 
and expressive of a strong mind. In conversation he was v^ery 
agreable and instructive, enlivening the social circle with aphor- 
isms and pungent anecdotes. In all he was modest, chaste and 
discreet, an honorable opponent, never underrating his adversary 
nor overrating himself. As a patriot, neighbor and friend Gover- 
nor Johnson had no superior. 



15 

l^ut he was permitted to enjoy this elysium only five years. 
In 1 860 he saw the material collecting for a conflagration, and 
though hoping that Providence. Who had so often favored us as a 
nation, would provide for us a way of escape from the calamities 
of war, he caught the first glimpses of the conflict as the dark 
cloud arose upon the country's horizon in 1861. He was a strict 
constructionist of the Federal constitution, regarding that instru 
ment as a written compact between the states composing the 
Union ; that the Union was the creature of the states, and all 
powers not delegated to the general government were expressly 
reserved to the states. He was therefore a state-rights Democrat 
of the Jacksonian school. Duringliis long eventful public life 
he had denounced the doctrine of nullification, and opposed the 
I)olicy of Recession as of doubtful expediency. He believed 
that Virginia in entering the Union had reserved the right in the 
last resort to be the judge of her own wrongs and as to the bast 
mode of securing and enjoying her rights. With Mr. Webster, he 
believed "A contract broken in i)art, was broken all around." 
Me never was a secessionist pcr-sc. He loved the union of our 
fathers, and always advised moderation a4id patience. He desired 
and lioped for a peaceful solution of our sectional differences 
until president Lincoln called upon Virginia and other states for 
troops to subjugate the Southern states, who he verily believed 
had been wronged and were threatened with grosser outrage. 
At this critical period he was called upon by his old constituents 
to address them publicly at their Court house on the subject of 
their duty in the premises. Though now in his 76th year, he 
responded in a public speech. He was not one to sleep in the 
half-way house, he preferred to fight his enemies rather that be ar- 
rayed against his friends. He believed his allegiance was first 
due to his state, and determined to niake her enemies his. He 
advised others by telling them how he should act. Accordingly 
he identified himself with the Southern cause, and though too old 
and infirm to take part in the field as he had done in 18 14, he 
gave to the Confederacy his hearty sympathy and support^amid 
personal privations and with a determination to share in the fate 
of her cause. In after life he saw no reason to change his politi- 



1(5 

cal opinions, or cause to regret anvtiiing he had done in the 
premises, — much less to ask pard.Mi of an\- one. In iS5i, he 
was one of the Presidential electors who cast the vc^te of Virginia 
for Jefferson Davis. 

At the beginning of hostilities, that part of Virginia in which 
Gov. Johnson lived (the north-west) was overrun by the Federal 
troops. As they came in, he was induced by the urgent advice 
of friends to leav-e his home in charge of his single daughter and 
cross the mountains with the regiments that volunteered to join 
the Confederates, and spent most of the four years of war in the 
Valley of Virginia, thus escaping either murder by a brutal 
soldiery or the more refined cruelties of Camp Chase, where so 
many others gave up their lives rather that renounce their fideli- 
ty to their beloved state-, V^irginia. Gov. Johnson had put but a 
few miles between himself and his home before it was surrounded 
by a rabid soldiery, who hissed and hurled their curses at his 
daughter when they found their intended prey had eluded them 

Time nor tears can ever blot out the disgraceful stigma that 
rests upon the Federal goverment'and the names of Seward and 
Stanton and their agents, for the wanton destruction and ap- 
propriation to private uses of private property, and abuse of the 
weak and defenceless who unfortunately fell in their power dur- 
ing this war. 

Soon after the surrender of the Confederate armies, Governor 
Johnson returned to his home to find his intrepid maiden daughter 
standing like a sentinel at the post where he had left her, and to 
be warmly welcomed by old and tried friends. The new state 
(an illegitimate child of Virginia,) West Virginia^ had been or- 
ganized. All who had sympathised with the Confederate cause 
(comprising as a general rule the best citizens of the state,) had 
been disfranchised by the Jacobin legislature, and Johnson de- 
termined at the first general election after his return^ to see if the 
little puppets of the ring-masters who then had charge of the 
polts had the nerve to refuse his vote in his presence. Their 
oaths required it, but they looked confusedly at each other, then 
upon the ground, and he deposited his vote without objection. 

Now at 80 years of age, he bade adieu to politics except the 



17 

interest felt by ever}' intelligent patriot in every thing pertaining 
to the welfare of his beloved country, and his fellow man, and 
devoted himself to the enjoyment of social intercourse with his 
children and other intimate friends, and in seeking a nearer and 
more intimate relation to his Father in Heaven. These occupied 
almost his entire time and thoughts for the last ten years of his 
life. As in everything else, he was punctual in his Christian 
duties, and would let nothing interfere with his religious services. 
If possible, the remarkable excellences of his character shone 
forth more brightly in his Christian life, than in his long and use- 
ful public career. He was a useful member of the Baptist de- 
nomination, but, his was not a narrow, sectarian religion ; he 
recognized Christians in all the Evangelical churches. He was 
not a Pharisee in any sense ; he endeavored to keep himself un- 
spotted from the world, do all the good he could and practice that 
primitive Christianity taught by the Apostles. 

So temperate and uniform had been his habits, at the age of 83 
he visited a married daughter, Mrs. Horner, in the state of -Arkan- 
-sas, and as late as 1874, when 89 years of age, he visited another 
daughter, Mrs. John A. English, in Baltimore City, more than 300 
miles from his home. During this visit^ he was in Washington 
City, and visited both houses of Congress where he had served 
as a member of the House of Representation more than 50 years 
before. He met with but few with whom he had served in Con- 
gress at any time, but was received and treated by the members 
of the House with marked courtesy and attention — the speaker 
leaving his .seat to have an introduction. He enjoyed this visit to 
Congress very much. Here he had been associated with Cla}-, 
Web.ster. Calhoun, Hayne, Adams, Benton, Silas Wright, W. C. 
Rives and others — all of whom had passed over the River, leaving 
him the last of a past generation. 

He had been personally acquainted with all the Presidents from 
Jefferson to Grant, having served with Adams, Pierce, Buchanan, 
Lincoln and Johnson in Congress. It \vas entertaining in the 
extreme to hear him delineate the characters of these great 



18 

states added to the old 13, and the population increaseed from 
four to forty millions. 

Being at the Court House of his county (Clarksburg), on 
court day, in October, 1874, his old friends and constituents so 
importuned him for his views and advice upon the public events 
of the times, he had to make a short address. He spoke to them 
not as a partizan, but in the spirit of a parting address from a 
father to his children. Excited and stimulated by the occasion 
his mind exhibited its wonted vigor. This was too much for his 
physical powers, and by request of the crowd he finished his 
address sitting, amid the cheers of the multitude. 

He spent his leisure hours, during the last two years of his life 
in superintending and contributing liberally to the rebuilding and 
furnishing of the Baptist church near his residence, where his 
mother and wife had worshiped before him, and where there had 
been an organized church m.cinbership for more than a hundred 
consecutive years ; and as fit opportunity offered, giving his un- 
qualified testimony to the truth and power of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ. It was a treat to hear him in his quiet, convincing 
manner tell of his faith and foretaste (as he described it) of the 
'^oy that remained for all who loved God." A distinguished 
traveller from another state who visited him during this time, in 
describing his visit in a letter to the Kcligioiis Herald, said : 
"In all my travels in both hemispheres, I have seldom met a 
person so easy in all his manners as Governor Johnson." 

This good and great man (for men are only great as they are 
pure and good,) closed his long and useful career at his home 
where he had lived for more than 70 \-ears, surrounded by most 
of his children who survived him and friends who mourned him 
as a relation, on the morning of the 27th of February 1877, in 
the 92nd year of his age. He passed away as a babe goes to 
slec-. 

The next day a public meeting of the citizens of Clarksburg 
was held to give expression to their sympathy and appreciation of 
his character. Here, the kading men of every political party bore 
testimony to his talents and the purity of his private and public 
life. The day following, he was buried by the side of his wife 



19 



after a beautiful and impressive sermon to a large, weeping con- 
gregation, by the Rev. E. J. Willie, from the very appropriate 
text, "Them that honor me, I will honor. " — I Sam/. — 2 ch., jo v. 



d^'^si^^s 



1^ 






